Forced Confrontations
by diesedame
Summary: A chance meeting with Harry's old teacher reveals something to Remus and Sirius.
1. Chapter 1

"Harry? Harry Potter?" a voice came up from behind him,

Harry paused midway from drinking his coffee and groaned softly. 'Another fan?' he mouthed to his Sirius in aggravation. His green eyes met his godfather's who was sparkling with mirth. He then swiveled his eyes to Remus who was grinning at him in sympathy. Pasting a fake friendly smile on his face, he turned to look at his 'fan' who had called out his name. His friendly look turned to a look of shock.

"Miss Donovan? Is that you?" he asked incredulously.

"Oh my… It really IS you, Harry!" she cried back as a response.

"Harry? You know her?" Sirius asked cautiously. Even though Harry had defeated Voldemort, there were still many of his supporters out loose.

"Yeah. Sirius, Remus, this was my mugg- primary school teacher, Ms Donovan." Said Harry stumbling over the word muggle.

"Ms D, these are my godfathers, Sirius and Remus…"

"Call me Jane, Harry. I have not been your teacher for a long time already…"

Harry smiled wistfully thinking of his past lessons with her. She had always been his favourite teacher. Remembering his manners, he drew the chair at their table and invited her to sit. As she sank into the plush chair gratefully, she suddenly turned to Harry with an odd look on her face.

"Harry… If Remus and Sirius were your godfathers, why did you live with the…?" Jane Donovan asked.

"They… There were certain circumstances that made them unfit to be my guardians and therefore they were unable to care for me…" Harry said smoothly opting not to tell her that Sirius had been in jail and Remus is a werewolf.

"So, Jane… You taught Harry when he was a kid?" Remus jumped in before she could ask anymore uncomfortable questions.

Jane smiled. "Yes… He was such a bright kid! So willing to please and eager to learn. Speaking of which, what are you doing now, Harry?"

"Well, I dabbled in police work before and now I am handling my late father's companies. He owns shares in a couple of companies here too." Harry said.

"Oh? Like what company?"

"Well, Robert and co for one… And not to mention Grunnings."

"Grunnings? Isn't that where your uncle works at?" Jane asked quietly.

"I… Well, yes." Harry said uncomfortably knowing where his past teacher's mind was going now.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Remus and Sirius who had been keeping quiet to allow Harry to catch up with his past teacher exchanged looks. Just as Remus was about to jump in to diffuse the tenseness, Jane spoke up candidly.

"I have not been able to forgive myself up to this day…" She said.

"Ms Donovan… Jane… Please, it wasn't in any way a fault of yours." Harry protested.

"No, Harry. I was an adult. I should have handled it better. I should have spotted it earlier too. All your bruises, your large ugly clothes, your malnourishment. I'm a trained teacher, Harry. I should have seen the signs…"

"Jane. Please. Humans make mistakes. It isn't your fault. Let us leave it at that. That was in the past. I'm happy now." Harry said, panicking slightly. His godfathers who were clueless about the Dursleys need not be inform about the past.

"I was a fool, Harry. Humans may make mistakes. But this time my mistake cost you. I should not have been so rash and… and young!" she said spitting out the word 'young'

"I don't blame you, you must know that, Jane. " Harry said quietly.

"Harry… You may not think that it was my fault but I felt and still feel that I could have handled the situation better. I could have gotten you out of there, Harry. But because of my inexperience in dealing with these situations, I made a mistake that ended up in prolonging your abuse. And for that, I will never forgive myself. Harry, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" she asked her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I… Of course… There is after all, nothing to forgive." Harry said whispering.

"And will you forgive me, Remus and Sirius? As his godfathers, you must be furious at me. For being unable to get him out of the Dursley's abusive house…" Jane said turning to them.

Harry sucked in his breath sharply and looked out at the window. He could not bear to see his godfathers' faces right now.

"Of course Jane. We do not hold it against you." Remus said calmly.

If not for the tense situation, Harry would have grinned at Remus's ability to lie glibly.

Jane closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you god. I finally get your apology, Harry. Ever since that day, I have been trying to contact you. But it felt like as if you dropped off the Earth's surface…"

Harry laughed uncomfortably. "Well…" he trailed off not sure how he could explain that he had been in an old castle in Scotland that looked like a pile of ruins to muggles.

"That matters not now. All that matters was that I got your apology. And now, I must bid you farewell, Harry. I will always treasure your forgiveness, my dear boy. Goodbye, Harry. You have always been my favourite student…"

Harry smiled wistfully at that. "Bye Ms Donovan. You have always been my favourite teacher too."

With a wave of goodbye, Jane walked out of the internet café. Harry looked anywhere but at his two godfathers. The silence grew larger as seconds pass by.

"What was that?" Sirius spoke up in a strangled voice.

Harry cursed fluently. He had two options. He could be brave, stay here and explain or he could take the cowardly way out and run off. Well, he WAS a Gryffindor so… Harry opened his mouth to speak before standing up and walking out of the café. Well, the hat did say he should have been in Slytherin… Oh, he knew that running away from the café now would not help matters. This was an unavoidable topic. But he wanted to prolong it for as long as he could. He was definitely not looking forward to the conversation they were going to have. Walking to the nearby park, Harry did not look back to check if his godfathers were behind him. He hoped not. Hopefully, they would apparate back home from the café and wait for him there.

"Harry!"

Ah, his dastardly hopes were dashed by the call from Sirius.

Sirius grabbed his godson's arm and forced him to turn facing Remus and him. His heart was hammering against his ribcage fiercely after what he had heard from Harry's teacher. A single glance at Remus told him that he wasn't any better too.

"It's true then?" he asked simply.

Harry stood there for a long time before giving a simple nod. His eyes were focused on a tree behind Sirius as he refused to look as his godfather's eyes. That simple nod crashed Sirius's world as his hold on his temper disappeared.

"IT'S TRUE? WHY IN MERLIN'S NAME DID YOU NOT TELL ANYONE, HARRY?" Sirius roared in frustration at the world's unfair treatment to his godson.

Harry's face blanched as he heard Sirius's angry tone. He knew Sirius meant him no harm but it was now a natural reaction for him to wince or blanch at shouting tones. Sirius caught a glimpse of the terrified look on Harry's face before it was covered up with a blank face. However, a quick look was enough to make him feel a thousand times worse.

"Oh Harry…" he whispered.

Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Harry. A second later, Remus too wrapped his arms around them. Harry stood stiffly at first but slowly he gave in and hugged them. His body trembled with suppressed emotion although no tears came out.

The three stood in the path hugging each other, giving each other comfort as the sun's rays warmed them with its sunlight. All was not well, but it would be, with each other's support.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry opened his eyes to the bright rays. He yawned widely and stretched in his soft bed. A feeling in his gut made him feel that all was not right in his world. Stopping in mid-yawn, his eyes popped wide open as he remembered the events of yesterday. Jane Donovan has unknowingly dragged back nightmares from Harry's past back up. In front of Sirius and Remus, no less. Harry groaned again. What was he going to do? He wanted to forget everything that had happened in the past, not drag them back up. A knock on the door roused him from his thoughts.

"Harry? Can I come in?" Sirius asked poking his head in.

"Sirius, your head is already in my room…" Harry said dryly.

Sirius glared at him mockingly. "Fine fine, can I step into your room then?"

Harry shrugged as Sirius walked towards him. Harry sat up on his bed with his heart thudding fast. He could only guess why Sirius was awake this early.

"What's up Sirius? Are the pigs flying that you're up this early?" Harry asked smiling mischievously.

"Ha bloody ha. Very funny kiddo. Now are you going to lay here all day or are you going to get up? Breakfast is ready and after that Remus and I want to have a talk with you…" Sirius said getting up and heading towards the door.

Harry bit his lips. "Sirius…" he called. Sirius looked back. "Must we talk about it? It's done and over with, Siri. I don't want nor need to talk about it…"

"You may not want to talk about it kiddo. But I certainly do. You've kept it from us to long already" Sirius said sadly before closing the door behind him.

Seeing no other way out, Harry got out of bed and went to wash up in the bathroom. 10 minutes later, he was standing near the kitchen concealed by the cupboard. He stood there for a few seconds hoping to overhear something that might help him wriggle out of this mess. Hearing nothing, he stepped into the kitchen and made his way to the dining table. He helped himself to coffee and sat quietly waiting for his godfathers to finish eating. He sat still for a few minutes starring at his coffee cup before looking out of the window.

"I don't want to talk about it guys…" Harry finally spoke.

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. They had foreseen this and had expected it. "Harry, you cannot honestly think that we would let it go after all we've heard didn't you?" Remus asked gently.

"We're your godfathers, Harry. Why didn't you tell us about all this?" Sirius added on.

"Because Sirius, it didn't come up in a Sunday conversation!"Harry said sarcastically as he heaved himself up from the chair and walked into the living room. "Seriously, Sirius! When was I supposed to tell you? When you were on the run from Azkaban? Or was it when you were declared free and we were all celebrating?"

"Anytime Harry! Anytime would do! I'm your godfather Harry… I'm your godfather…" Sirius repeated brokenly.

Harry closed his eyes and on the window ledge. Sirius remained standing in the middle of the room. Nobody said anything and the silence dragged on. Remus sighed and walked to Harry. "Harry, why don't you explain to us what happened with your teacher? Why was she so guilty?"

Harry clenched his fist. He absolutely hated being reminded of the past. His horrible past. "I was four when I first had Ms Donovan as a teacher. She taught me for a whole year and took me under her wing because I was so small and always getting bullied by Dudley. Yet she didn't notice anything wrong about me and I didn't tell her. When I was five, I got her as my teacher again. I spent more time with her than ever. Soon she noticed the large difference between Dudley and I.

He was ridiculously fat and I was ridiculously small. He wore branded clothes and I wore rags. She prodded on and asked too many questions. After awhile, my barriers broke down and she got to know the truth…"

"And what was the truth, Harry?" Sirius asked quietly?

"The truth?" Harry asked smiling bitterly. "The truth was, I was beaten. Plain and simple, Sirius."

"That's nothing plain and simple about that Harry!" Sirius roared.

Harry couldn't help it. He flinched.

Sirius took in the flinch and put his hands on his face. Why didn't anyone notice the signs? Why didn't Harry try to trust again?

Remus broke in "What happened then, Harry?"

"What happened… What happened then was that Ms Donovan made the mistake of going to the principal about me. The principal who was also Vernon's business associate. Vernon made a report about her harassing me. Ms Donovan was then fired and given a court order to never contact me ever again. As for me, I was…punished even more for daring to tell anyone."

"Was that why you never confided in anyone else? You were scared that the same thing might happen?" Sirius asked gently.

Harry shrugged. "Partly… My fame contributed to it too I supposed. I didn't want my face splashed in the papers. The-boy-who-lived is bad enough but the-boy-who's-been-abused will be worse."

"But I'm alright now… I swear Siri, I'm fine now. I don't need to talk about it. Ever again." Harry declared.

"You flinched when I yelled at you kiddo…" Sirius said sadly.

"It was a reflex reaction, Siri. Promise." Harry said pleadingly.

"I don't know…" Sirius said shaking his head. He then looked at Remus.

"Let's have a compromise here…" Remus said tiredly. "Harry I want you to go see a therapist and Sirius won't bother you about talking to him about the Dursleys ever again."

"WHAT?!" came twin shouts.

"That was not what I meant and you know it too, Remus." Harry exclaimed.

"And why can't I talk to him about it?!" Sirius all but shouted.

"Shut up the both of you." Remus said irritated. "Harry you need to see a therapist because I want you to get better. I love you and I think you're still affected by what the Dursleys have done to you. Sirius, you can't talk to Harry about it because he doesn't want to."

"But Remus…" Sirius whined.

"Stop whining Sirius. You're an animagus, not a dog." Remus said shortly before leaving the room.

Harry and Sirius stared at Remus as he left the room. "Blimey. Is it full moon tonight? What the hell shortened his circuit?" Sirius said.

Harry, still staring, replied "I don't know, but it must have been your whiney voice." He said teasing Sirius.

"Hey! I resent that comment! Take that back!" Sirius said indignantly before transforming into Padfoot and leaping onto Harry.

The serious atmosphere from before turned joyful as Sirius and Harry fooled around. Remus stood behind the closed door smiling smugly. So his plan had worked. He had planned this, knowing Harry and Sirius well enough to know what their reactions would be. Now his godson would go to a therapist and hopefully get better. His mate will have one less thing to worry about and will stop bugging his godson. All was well in the world of Remus Lupin.

A/N: Thanks all for reviewing! I feel so encouraged(: To answer 2 of my reviewers, in the 7th bk, Harry killed Voldemort when he was 16/17. So he is now about 17 or nearing 18.


	3. Chapter 3

_Few months later_

Harry hesitated on the landing. In his right hand was an envelope containing a letter sprawled with his handwriting. He walked a few steps forward, and stopped. Then he turned back and ran into his room. In his room, he gave a hefty sigh of frustration and sat on his bed holding his head. Looking up, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and grinned. What a sight he was. His hands were stained with ink and his hair was sticking up from all the ruffling done to it due to frustration.

'Alright, alright, let's do it, Potter.' He told himself. Standing up, he walked to his godfathers' room once more. Knocking hesitantly, he stood and waited. The door opened and revealed Sirius in his pajamas. Harry grinned. He had purposely waited till the end of the day to hand over the letter to Sirius and Remus so that they could sleep on it before confronting Harry about it the next day.

"Kiddo? What is it?" Sirius said. "Or are you looking for Remus?"

"Uh… Both of you actually." Harry said as he was ushered into the room.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Remus from the bed with a book on his lap.

"I… Uh…" Harry stopped and gathered his breathe. "MypsychologistwantsmetowritealettertobothofyouabouttheDursleystoprovethatI'mwellandoverit. So here it is! Bye!" Harry said as he flung the letter on the table and ran into his room.

"I'm going to sleep! Now! So don't disturb me!" Harry yelled before slamming the door to his room.

As soon as he closed the door, he quickly scuttled around the room finding for his boxers to sleep in. Then, he jumped into bed, muttered_ Nox_ and went under the covers all the while fervently hoping Sirius and Remus wouldn't keel over and have a heart attack over the letter.

Sirius and Remus stared at each other and then to the letter sitting innocently on their bed side table. Remus was the first to move as he picked the letter up and guided Sirius to sit on their bed. Carefully, he slit the envelope and took out the letter.

_Dear Padfoot and Moony,_

_My psychologist told me that if I wrote a letter to you, it would mean that I'm ready to move on in my life. She told me that I would never heal from what I have endured but I would learn to move on and never look back. Her words, not mine. I am supposed to write to you about what I faced there when I was young. She said that it was okay not to tell you the whole thing. So I guess I'll tell you some of my experiences there. As you can tell though, I'm not thrilled to be telling you this. I do like having Padfoot around. It would be rather hard to visit him in Azkaban after all….._

_When I was small, I lived in a cupboard under the stairs. It was a small dingy little thing and I loved it then. It was my save haven where the musty smell and the little spiders scuttling around me was my comfort. In the morning, ever since I was 5 years old, Petunia would wake me up to cook breakfast. In the early days whenever I burnt the food, my hand would be burnt too. Vernon took pleasure in my screams and the smell of my burning hand. Soon though I learnt quickly and my hand never got burnt again. After the Dursley's breakfast, I was given 2 pages full of chores. There were usually about 20 chores on it and most were difficult for a 5 year old kid to do. Dudley liked to get in my way and would often purposely sabotage my chores so that I would get into more trouble. When Vernon gets back, he would check how much chores I had left incomplete. When I was smaller and more naïve, I would rush around the house trying to complete everything on the list. One day I did complete it and I walked proudly to Vernon to show the ticked boxes. However my big grin only served to anger him and he beat me because he thought I was mocking him._

_Since then, I simply did not bother rushing through the chores. I did what I could and the rest that I could not, I was punished for it. The punishments vary. Sometimes it was merely a 3 day fast or sometimes it would involve a severe beating. I learnt when I was 6 never to shout or cry in the middle of a beating because that only serves to excite Vernon more._

_One day when Vernon was scolding me about a work that I had done perfectly (he said it was wrongly done), I got so angry that the glass windows broke. Vernon went so pale I thought he was going to faint. His blissful silence was interrupted by Petunia's shrill shriek about 'the freaks'. Then Vernon got angry and my punishment became worse. It was later until I got into Hogwarts that I realize I had done accidental magic. Weird things used to happen when I was young about 3 years old. But after beatings after beatings, I learnt to control them._

_My childhood though bad, was not horrible. I'm still alive and stronger for it, Siri, Rem. Don't dwell on the past and stop imagining yourself killing them, Siri. You have that glint in your eyes sometimes when you look at me and I just know you're imagining yourself torturing the Dursleys! After this letter, let's stop being maudlin over this, guys. I made my peace with all this already. I know that I'm not a freak or useless as they called me. I know that mom and dad were not useless as they had said and had died heroes instead of being drunkards. I'm loved now by you guys and my friends. Circumstances has changed a lot since then. I'm alright now and I need you to be alright too. So please, Siri, Rem. Let's move on from this and let us be a stronger family for it._

_Harry._

The two finished the letter silently. The air around them was solemn and tense. "He's right you know." Remus said breaking the tense silence. "We need to move on instead of being so hell-bent on revenge. That's not what Harry needs and I bet the psychologist made Harry write this letter for our benefit as well as his too."

His words were only met by silence.

Sirius stood up slowly. His mind was in a whirlwind. He was so… So _anguished_ that his godson had to go through all that. All the beatings, the 3 days fastings! He even said it was 'mere' punishment. If so, then what was the worse ones? Did he even want to know?

He walked slowly to Harry's room still thinking. He was aware of Remus standing behind him following silently. He opened the door to Harry's room and mutely look at the bed containing his godson. He's godson's small lithe figure only served to remind him of the 'mere' 3 days fast. How many of those 'fasts' were there? How many were there until his body was left malnourished till he was so small?

He walked noiselessly towards the bed, his feet soundlessly stepping on the carpeted floor. He sat slowly on the bed and ran his hand through Harry's hair. Remus placed a hand on his shoulder. Harry gave a twitch in his sleep and opened his eyes blearily.

"Okay…" Sirius said. "Okay… Let's move on."

His voice was a stark contrast from his usual one. His usual one was loud and bright. Now, he's was quiet and gravelly. "Okay…." He whispered once more.

Harry smiled sadly. "Thank you." He said heartfelt, as he moved to hug Sirius and Remus. His body then shook as tears started to leak from his eyes. His psychologist had said on his first visit that he was in fact not as fine with his childhood trauma as he said he was. But on his last visit, she had said that Harry was recovering. And he knew, that tonight had healed the worst of his wounds and that one day he would be okay.

**THE END(:**

Thanks so much for reading everyone! Please please review for the last time. Old and new reviewers are really really welcomed!


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